Here’s Dominic Fifield’s match report from Wembley:
Elsewhere meanwhile, Leicester have been properly pounding Swansea – follow the closing stages here.
That’s me done for this game though – thanks for your company, emails and putting me right on a couple of points I was unsure of. I enjoyed it all. Bye.
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The inevitable tears and cheers contrasts around Wembley. Palace deserved victory overall, looking the more coherent side going forward and doing enough defensively to disconnect Watford’s front two from the rest of the side. Watford’s best threat came from those occasions when they went a little more direct – could they not knock it? As their most celebrated former manager might have said – but they weren’t on top of their game overall. And poor old Quique Sanchez Flores will inevitably face more questions about his future now. The Palace ultras are in full voice at the other end though, as their matchwinners conduct their lap of honour. Well done them, commiserations Watford, and we have a proper Big Club v Medium-sized Club Cup final set-to to look forward to, and one that will properly matter to both sides. Just as it did, famously, 26 years ago.
Full-time: Crystal Palace 2-1 Watford.
Palace are coming back for a 1990 final rerun next month!
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90+4 mins: Palace now indulge in game-management/timewasting (delete as appropriate) down by the righthand corner flag. McArthur driving towards the corner before losing it and conceding a goalkick.
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90+3 mins: More panic in the Palace area as Guediora’s low ball in runs across the area but Palace scramble clear and win a free-kick when Suarez catches Zaha.
90+1 mins: Watford chance: Guedliora volleys just wide after a fine cross from Jurado and good hold-up play by Ighalo.
90 mins: We’ll have five extra minutes as Jurado wastes a chance with a too-high cross.
89 mins: McArthur sand-wedges a little chip towards Adebayor inside the area from Cabaye’s free-kick but the keeper is just out to gather in time. Watford come again, winning a throw on the left after Ake and Deeney combine neatly. But the advantage is squandered when Deeney is penalised, and booked, for a high elbow.
86 mins: Zaha is finding more space as Watford seek an equaliser and he forages forward to the right of the area before drilling a shot into the side netting.
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85 mins: Zaha gets clear down the right and sends a nice low curling cross in but there’s no one there to get on the end of it. Zaha picks it up on the left and Palace continue to press until Zaha is this time flagged offside.
Palace sub: Adebayor on for the goalscorer Wickham. Watford’s fans boo lustily
83 mins: Watford win a corner after more long-ballery causes havoc by the right byline and Ighalo wins the kick. After a bout of head tennis, it comes out to Jurado who belts it low and hard but the diving Hennessey saves.
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82 mins: Watford go long, a proper hoik into the mixer is nodded on neatly by Deeney for Ighalo, whose shot from an angle on the right is hit high on the half-volley into the Watford end.
Watford sub: Anya on for Nyom
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81 mins: Wickham crumples to the turf after Britos’s challenge. But the referee plays on. Watford clear.
Palace sub: Puncheon off, Sako on.
79 mins: Watford booking: Suarez for a foul on Cabaye.
78 mins: Dann concedes a corner after intercepting from Deeney, but Guedliora can’t clear the last man. Zaha leads a break but Nyom stays with him and he also snuffs out the eventual chance from Pumcheon. It’s livening up again.
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77 mins: Palace respond, Zaha on the right teeing up Cabaye but his low shot is too weak to trouble Pantilimon, who saves easily.
76 mins: Zaha plays a lovely one-two with Cabaye but wastes the cross, which enables Watford to break swiftly and Jurado’s cross from deep and wide on the left is headed back by Deeney but not with enough power to prevent Hennessey grabbing comfortably.
74 mins: A meandering period of play prefaces a substitution: McArthur for the impressive Bolasie for Palace.
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69 mins: “This is a bit of a throwback game to the early 80s,” says Glenn Hoddle of a period in which you suspect a part of mind permanently dwells. Nathan Ake on the left tries to find Deeney with an ambitious low cross from the left but it’s too near the keeper.
67 mins: Guedliora’s free-kick fails to clear the first man, Souare, and Palace’s subsequent break is nullified by Nyom’s interception. There’s an invigorating ebb and flow to this match now.
But still time for a tweet or two:
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66 mins: Watford win another free-kick when the advancing Ighalo is caught by the onrushing Dann midway into the Palace half. Dann, already booked, has got to be careful here.
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64 mins: How will Watford react now? They’ve been a lot sprightlier this half, and Deeney causes havoc on the edge of the area before the ball is teed up for Suarez who thumps straight into the line of Palace defenders, who all seem to collide with each other in what looks like an elaborate obscure avant-garde visual gag. No one’s hurt though.
Goal! Crystal Palace 2-1 Watford (Wickham, 61)
Another header – and the best of the bunch. Palace are back in front, a hopeful high ball in is met by Wickham, who justifies his selection with a fierce accurate downward header to Pantilimon’s right. Terrific response.
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59 mins: Looking at it again, that really was a deft smart header from Deeney. Watford’s first on-target attempt on goal no less. Now Bolasie wins a corner on the left for Palace. It’s cleared out to Souare who attempts an ambitious piledriver from 30 yards. It sails into the Palace fans behind the goal.
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57 mins: Watford’s tails are emphatically up, the front pair are connecting with each other again, and they’re deep in Palace’s half. Though Palace clear the threat from this particular throw.
56 mins: Watford sub straight away, Guedioura for Abdi.
Goal! Crystal Palace 1-1 Watford (Deeney, 55)
Another goal from a corner. Watford are level. Deeney gets ahead of Dann at the near post and flicks it in. Game on.
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53 mins: Palace have a spell of neat build-up play but Wickham concedes possession sloppily and Watford move forward, Ighalo winning a free-kick outside the area after a good combination with Deeney. Watson has the subsequent attempts on goal and wins a corner. Scott Dann has been booked for the foul on Ighalo
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52 mins: Watford attack with rare swiftness Nyom’s ball in from the right finds Ighalo but his header is blocked by Dann.
50 mins: Palace chance! Bolasie skips clear down the left, cuts in past the diving Britos as he drives into the box but Pantilimon saves with his feet, conceding a corner. From it, Palace win another one, which Pantilimon clutches at easily.
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49 mins: Deeney is unsettling Palace a touch here, and he draws another foul from Cabaye halfway into the Palace half. Watford enjoy a spell of possession, winning a throw on the right, which they waste.
47 mins: Ighalo, ploughing his lonely furrow again, at least has a run with the ball at his feet before being checked by Cabaye and winning a free-kick. Nyom’s ball in finds Deeney whose header is too high.
46 mins: Palace are on the attack straight away as Wickham looks to get past Britos and tumbles to the ground as they tangle just outside the area, prompting big and understandable appeals for a foul that referee Craig Pawson waves away.
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Peep!
We’re underway again. No changes to either side can be discerned yet.
The Jonah files, courtesy of John O’Donovan:
BT Sport’s panel have just tempted fate horribly, from a Palace point of view, by pointing out the similarities between Bolasie’s goal and Pardew’s winner in the 1990 semi. What are the worst cases of pundit-jinxing people have come across?
Half-time thoughts: Palace have certainly been the better side in an intriguing, though not too fluent, semi-final. Watford have struggled to exploit the threat of their front men, who have been well throttled by Palace, while Alan Pardew’s attack looks that bit more menacing. But it’s only 1-0 and finely poised. See you in a few minutes.
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Half-time: Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford
Palace boss injury time of the first half largely by just knocking it around among themselves until a long ball is banged into the box for Wickham, from which Watford clear, but Palace are soon back on the ball. And they see out the half to take a deserved half-time lead.
45 mins: We’ll have four added minutes
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45 mins: The free-kick on the right is curled in by Cabaye but can’t clear the first man and Palace then conceded a free-kick when Dann is flagged offside when the ball is hoisted back in.
44 mins: Wickham wins the ball just past half-way, forages forward down the right; it’s eventually worked back to Zaha who runs for the byline and wins a corner after it’s smashed off Ake’s arms/midriff - prompting inevitable penalty appeals. The corner is cleared at the near post by Britos, but Palace press and win a free-kick for a foul by Jurado on Zaha.
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41 mins: Deeney’s going back to get the ball a lot but is growing in influence, and he feeds the overlapping Nyom with a neat ball down the right but his fierce low cross is gathered by Hennessey.
39 mins: It’s rather lost its fluency, this match, but Palace press again and force a throw from Watford on the left. Jurado is booked for a foul on Zaha earlier in the move
37 mins: Ake is robbed by Zaha, who piles forward and feeds Wickham whose return pass is snuffed out. Watford come again and Zurado gets some space on the left before belting it straight in Delaney’s face. Palace scramble clear after winning a throw.
35 mins: Better from Watford: Watson feeds Deeney who swiftly plays in Ighalo who’s just denied by the onrushing Hennessey, but there was a proper sense of danger there at least.
34 mins: Zaha feeds Bolasie on the right, but his cross is headed clear by Ake and Jurado begins a Watford break with a neat overhead flick past his marker. They have a neat spell of possession but can’t link up effectively with the front two as Ighalo is crowded out and then dispossessed by Cabaye
32 mins: Palace have a throw on the right – from it Ward makes for the byline but his cross is intercepted at the near post by Pantilimon.
31 mins: Inevitable Watford substitution: Capoue off on a stretcher, Mario Suarez on.
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29 mins: Capoue has gone down again after another tangle, with Bolasie, and that looks like his semi-final is over. He’s clutching his left leg uncomfortably.
27 mins: Capoue and Bolasie clatter into each other off the ball – accidentally – and the Watford midfielder, perhaps their best player so far, needs treatment. He’s clutching his calf and is walking gingerly as he gets to his feet. But he’s staying on for now.
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25 mins: Watford are conceding far too many needless free-kicks, Nyom again the culprit for a foul on Bolasie. Puncheon’s ball in isn’t particularly accurate though, and Jedinak concedes a free-kick for a foul in the act of jumping for it.
23 mins: Palace win another free-kick on the left after Nyom fouls Puncheon. Cabaye has an attempt on goal but he curls it straight at the keeper, who gathers at the near post.
21 mins: Palace are pressing again down the right through Bolassie but there’s a slight sense that Watford have tightened up on this hitherto profitable line of Palace attack now. But Palace win a corner on the left instead after Puncheon’s free-kick is turned behind. From it, the ball comes back to Cabaye, whose cross-shot has to be punched clear by Pantilimon.
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19 mins: Watford are growing into this now and win two more consecutive corners, the latter of which is booted clear by Puncheon after a bout of head tennis.
18 mins: Watford find some space and a neat flowing move ends with Jurado being found on the left but his cross is cleared. They come again and Nyom gets forward down the right and sends a delicious culring cross towards the far post that has to be turned behind for a corner by an anxious Ward
15 mins: Capoue robs Zaha with a fine tackle and drives forward through the middle, winning a free-kick, but Watford waste it and are forced back into their own half. They forage forward again eventually and Ighalo and Deeney combine for the first time before the latter spoons a rash shot high over the bar.
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12 mins: First bit of decent football from Watford as Jurado and Deeney swap passes on the edge of the area but the latter’s shot is blocked and Palace win a throw and clear the danger. Watford just aren’t feeding their attackers with the same menace as Palace at the moment.
11 mins: Watford win a corner on the right but it’s headed clear by Jedinak and Palace break through Bolasie again, but Nyom dispossesses him at the cost of a throw.
Rumbled there. It’s one of 20 I still have to go for the 92.
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8 mins: Palace’s attacking resources have caused Watford problems from the off here. Can they keep this up for 84 more minutes? Watford have a free-kick through Watson but it’s overhit and Capoue can only head it on towards Hennessey who gathers comfortably above his head.
Goal! Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford (Bolasie, 6)
Palace’s bright start gets an instant reward, Cabaye’s corner is flicked on at the near post and Bolassie climbs highest to head in at the far post from two yards out.
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5th min: Abdi instigates Watford’s first attack from the left but he’s dispossessed and Palace break through Puncheon, whose exchange of passes with Soares goes awry. Throw to Watford. But Palace break again and Bolassie wins a second corner of the match for Palace
4th min: Zaha wins the first corner of the match for Palace, with a break down the right and his cross is headed behind by Cathcart. The corner is aimed deep from Puncheon to the far post but the header back from Wickham provokes only a scramble from which Palace concede a free-kick.
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2nd min: First half-chance is a huge old-fashioned up-and-under from Hennessey which briefly looks like it might put Wickham in but Pantilimon gathers
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Peep!
And we’re off, Palace get us underway, attacking the Watford end to the cameras’ left.
The players are are on their way out, the ground’s packed, apart from in the corporate ring of indifference of course, the PA is at its usual eardrum-perforating decibel level. Ah, the occasion.
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Alan Pardew, in his pre-match interview, talks a lot about the expectations and ambitions of the new owners. “This will be a big step for us,” he says, if Palace can reach the final. “Yesterday’s game ebbed and flowed and I don’t expect this to be any different, but we’ve got to be in control. We must focus on controlling Watford and if we can do that, we can win.” He said Wickham was preferred to Adebayor up front because “when we were at our best in the first half of the season, this was the team, and I’ve only been able to put it out seven times.”
They’re playing the Z-Cars theme over the PA system at Wembley, a day late.
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Quique Sánchez Flores has just done his pre-match TV interview, in which he says, “we are confident in this competition [my italics], and we expect the same from Crystal Palace.” He says Pantilimon was picked above Gomes in goal because he didn’t want to change a winning FA Cup formula “because I respect the FA Cup, and I have confidence in both our keepers”. He then scoffs at talk about his uncertain future – “I have no reason to talk about me,” he shrugs.
Some pre-match reading: Simon Burnton’s chinwag with Watford’s Ben Watson, returning to the scene of his FA Cup-clinching heroics for Wigan three years ago:
And Paul Doyle’s chat with cut-him-and-he-bleeds-red-and-blue Jason Puncheon about his rise from Holmesdale End stalwart to Palace hero:
Tear-jerking trots down memory lane on BT Sport with father-and-son Watford and Palace combinations looking back on their respective semi-final wins in 1984 and 1990. So let’s join in:
And Palace:
That 1990 semi-final day remains the absolute utopian ideal of what FA Cup semi-finals should be in the live TV era, Manchester United’s pulsating 3-3 with Oldham being the later entertainment that afternoon. Alas, the obsession with Wembley will serve to dilute the sense of occasion for the foreseeable.
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The teams are in
Crystal Palace: Hennessey; Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare; Puncheon, Cabaye, Jedinak (c), Zaha; Bolasie; Wickham. Subs: Speroni, Kelly, McArthur, Ledley, Sako, Gayle, Adebayor.
Watford: Pantilimon; Nyom, Britos, Cathcart, Ake; Abdi, Capoue, Watson, Jurado; Deeney (c), Ighalo. Subs: Gomes, Prödl, Suarez, Behrami, Guedioura, Anya, Berghuis.
So Watford go with Pantilimon in goal, while Palace make six changes from the side that went through the motions at Old Trafford the other night.
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Preamble
Afternoon everyone. In the Good Old Days – when every team’s commitment to the FA Cup was taken as read – sides that went deep in the competition would often seemingly gladly sacrifice their league form for knockout glory, making the old pot the priority and if that meant coming 15th rather than eighth then so be it. So there’s something reassuringly old-school about the narrative arc of Watford’s and Crystal Palace’s progress to this afternoon’s showdown. Both were in sparkling form before they entered the FA Cup this season, confounding critics who had them pencilled in for a season-long battle against the drop; both have since plummeted down the table from the moment the Cup got in the way, without it ever quite seriously endangering their top-flight status. Which is perfect, since it makes this semi-final emphatically the biggest match of both’s season – and it also makes this match really tricky to call on form grounds. Which is also perfect.
We might hope, though, for a better match than the last Wembley showdown between these two – the tense and disjointed 2013 Championship play-off final, which was settled late on for Palace by the old warhorse Kevin Phillips. And hope instead for something akin to Palace’s last FA Cup appearance at Wembley – the rollercoaster 1990 final (the first match anyway, not the dour replay), which ended 3-3 and saw Ian Wright and Mark Bright make their mark on the nation’s consciousness. Watford’s one Cup final appearance – the defeat to Everton in 1984 – bookended a romantic rags to riches rise under Elton John, but was a bit of a damp squib in itself.
But that was all a very long time ago. The Hornets’ 2016 incarnation, with their overseas ownership and rapid turnover of playing and management staff, are a very modern thing indeed, all told. They can play some pleasing football too, even if the goals have been in short supply. What’s more, their manager, Quique Sánchez Flores, reckons his stint in journalism improved him as a manager. Which gives hope to all of us at OBO Towers as we stare blankly into the bottom of our coffee cups (and has further shortened the already plummeting odds on me earning a two-week stint as Leyton Orient manager at some point next season). Flores’s chances of hanging around next season at a club that work their way through managers with slick ruthlessness will be immeasurably boosted by victory today.
Palace need this, too. The new investment in the club off the pitch requires something to celebrate on it, and their post-Christmas performances generally haven’t been up to scratch. That said, recent results suggest the slump has been halted, and Alan Pardew’s side can be an engrossing attacking sight when Zaha, Cabaye, Bolassie and Puncheon are on their game.
So never mind the Leicester match being senselessly scheduled at more or less the same time – this may well be less nervy, and more fun. Don’t write in if I jinx the entertainment level by saying that.
Kick-off 4pm BST.
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Tom will be here shortly.
